The Latest from Boing Boing |  |
- Photos of science fiction writers' nests
- I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist campaign for photographers' rights
- Guerilla gardens in newspaper boxes
- Supermodels without makeup
- Steampunk butterfly
- EFF criticizes Burning Man for limiting attendees' fair use rights
- When is it OK to eat moldy food?
- Lethem and EFF on why Google Book Search needs privacy guarantees
- Neil Gaiman reads my story "The Right Book" at WorldCon
- Brain cupcakes
- Lustworthy new Gerber multitool -- BBG
- Beer can collection as wall art
- Video camera hidden in tire-shaped clock
- Pelican book cover design
- ColorSuckr sucks out colors from online images
- Judge sentences man to 6 months for yawning in court
- The surprising links between anger and time perception
- Humanthesizer: humans painted with conductive ink to trigger sounds
- Depressing 1950s Jell-O commercial
- Macoto Murayama's computer illustrations of flowers
- GOOD's video contest around world-changing inventions
- Music video: "Black Sand Beach" by The Royalfingers
- Movie industry wants the right to take your house off the net without full judicial review
- UK Pirate Party launches
- Eclipse Phase: CC-licensed tabletop singularity RPG
- Periodic Table sweater
- EVE Online creates exotic financial instrument to combat gold-farming
- Spherical brass barometer
- Seder for liberated robots
- Accordioning table hidden in a rolling cupboard
| Photos of science fiction writers' nests Posted: 13 Aug 2009 04:05 AM PDT  Subculture photographer Kyle Cassidy has a great new project: "Where I Write: Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers in Their Creative Spaces." I love the shots of Michael Swanwick, but the killer one for me is Samuel R "Chip" Delaney (shown here). Still, I gotta say that I am immensely happy in my little nest in London (below), as shot by the talented NK Guy. Where I Write: Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers in Their Creative Spaces (Thanks, Michael!) |
| I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist campaign for photographers' rights Posted: 13 Aug 2009 03:59 AM PDT The Photographer Not a Terrorist campaign is a new British organisation devoted to helping photographers whom the authorities have busted or harassed for being potential terrorists, kidnapping innocent photons with deadly light-sensors. They've got a "bust card" explaining your rights to you and the officers you interact with, as well as a sticker/poster design and a gallery of photographers holding "I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist" signs. I'm a Photographer, not a Terrorist (Thanks, Glyn!) Previously:
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| Guerilla gardens in newspaper boxes Posted: 13 Aug 2009 03:52 AM PDT  Toronto street artist PosterChild has an ongoing, extensive project to convert flier and newspaper boxes into guerilla gardening boxes. Previously: |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2009 03:35 AM PDT  The September issue of Bazaar features photos of several top supermodels (super powers unspecified) without their makeup, looking substantially more human (and better, IMO) than they usually do. Keep It Real (via Kottke) Previously:
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| Posted: 13 Aug 2009 03:32 AM PDT  I'm very fond of this steampunk butterfly by DeviantArt's Ursulav, who writes, "Have finally succeeded in sketching one of the clockwork insects present at this location. It appears at a distance to be a common skipper butterfly, but upon closer examination, it became apparent that there had been extensive technological modifications to the creature. Contrary to my initial expectations, the creature clearly possesses organic traits, and is not merely a clever mimic. Whether the technological additions were impressed upon the developing chrysalis, or were grafted upon an adult specimen is one of many mysteries that I hope to uncover in time." Steampunk Skipper (Thanks, Andrew!) |
| EFF criticizes Burning Man for limiting attendees' fair use rights Posted: 12 Aug 2009 11:08 PM PDT  (Image by Xeni Jardin, shot at Burning Man 2003. The photographer was wearing pants.) The annual Burning Man fest takes place at the end of this month in Nevada's Black Rock desert. El wire, fake fur, exposed titties, fire art, pill popping, light shows, bad techno, art cars, dudes with no pants, platform combat boots, utilikilts, on and on and on -- if you're reading Boing Boing you probably know what Burning Man is (and if not, read the prior BB posts linked at the bottom of this one). So, for many years now, the organization behind the event has enforced a highly restrictive set of policies around photography and video out on the playa. The argument for these restrictions involves protecting attendees' privacy rights. People do wacky stuff out there, in various states of undress and sobriety, and nobody wants their naked DMT yoga falafel rave dance routine to end up on some sleazy "Girls Gone Wild" DVD, right? But here's a snip from a commentary by Corynne McSherry on the EFF Deep Links blog which argues these policies go too far: Most attendees have the entirely reasonable expectation that they will own and control what is likely the largest number of creative works generated on the Playa: the photos they take to document their creations and experiences. That's because they haven't read the Burning Man Terms and Conditions.Snatching rights on the playa (deeplinks via Wayneco)
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| When is it OK to eat moldy food? Posted: 12 Aug 2009 08:05 PM PDT My friend (and MAKE managing editor) Shawn Connally posted a chart about what kinds of moldy foods are safe to eat, and which ones are dangerous. Do you eat the moldy stuff? |
| Lethem and EFF on why Google Book Search needs privacy guarantees Posted: 12 Aug 2009 03:43 PM PDT NPR's Morning Edition did a great segment on the privacy concerns raised by Google's deal with publishers and authors to make books available as search-results. I love the idea in principle, but I'm really worried that Google won't put a decent privacy policy in writing -- for example, they won't promise to keep your reading history (which potentially includes the search terms you used, the pages you viewed, etc) secret from warrantless police requests. EFF legal director Cindy Cohn and author Johnathan Lethem do a fine job of explaining why this matters and what we'd like from Google in order to withdraw our legal objection to the settlement. Lethem is one of several authors -- including Michael Chabon and Cory Doctorow -- who have signed on to a campaign to pressure Google Books to offer greater privacy guarantees for its readers. The effort was organized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.Google Deal With Publishers Raises Privacy Concerns (Thanks, Hugh!) Previously:
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| Neil Gaiman reads my story "The Right Book" at WorldCon Posted: 12 Aug 2009 03:30 PM PDT
Here's a video of Neil Gaiman reading my short story "The Right Book" at the World Science Fiction Convention last week; Neil did the reading for an ambitious short story collection publishing experiment I'm working on; we recorded audio too. The story was written for the 150th anniversary of Britain's The Bookseller magazine -- the brief was to imagine the next 150 years of bookselling. Neil did a wicked reading. |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 03:28 PM PDT  These brain cupcakes were made with "red velvet raspberry cake with French vanilla cream cheese frosting and a chocolate brain by Pamela." |
| Lustworthy new Gerber multitool -- BBG Posted: 12 Aug 2009 03:25 PM PDT Over on BBG, our Lisa's found a new Gerber multitool, the Gerber Crucial. The specs and image give me that head-to-toe multitool lust that has overtaken me only a few times before -- once for the Skeletool and once for Gerber's old DIY mix-and-match tool. I've had about five Gerber tools over the years and every one of them was a winner. I'm off to buy one tomorrow. WANT. FWOAR. Gerber Crucial, a good-looking, functional multitool Previously: |
| Beer can collection as wall art Posted: 12 Aug 2009 01:27 PM PDT  Studio on Fire, a design and letterpress house in Minneapolis, installed this terrific beer can collection on their office wall. From their blog post about the, er, project: There's a better half of a thousand cans up there and darn near all are (diligently) cracked open from the bottom, preserving the original seal. Also out of all the cans hanging, there's only a handful of duplicates. We are quite proud of this assemblage of our cultural history and all of us, at one time or daily, have to be reminded to get the hell back to work and stop staring into abyss of an unfortunately long-gone and better era."It's Superior" (Thanks, Blogzilla!) Previously: |
| Video camera hidden in tire-shaped clock Posted: 12 Aug 2009 12:36 PM PDT  "The Best Wish For My Good Friend" is to spy on him with the video camera hidden in the "R" of this clock. - The Real Tire Clock comes with Remote Spy Camcorder.The Tire Clock Spy Camcorder with Remote Control $69.00 |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 11:54 AM PDT   When I was looking for more info about The Intelligent Woman's Guide To Atomic Radiation, I stumbled across Things Magazine's gallery of Penguin's Pelican book covers from the 1930s to the 1980s. In my opinion, the 1960s examples are absolutely stunning and represent a high point in book jacket design. For more on this, the book Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2000 goes into great depth on the publisher's iconic look-and-feel. The Pelican Project Previously: |
| ColorSuckr sucks out colors from online images Posted: 12 Aug 2009 11:36 AM PDT   Designer Paul Burgess created ColorSuckr to extract out the colors from any online photo you feed it. I tried it on this striking image from Wikimedia Commons of the Aurora Borealis by Joshua Strang. Oddly though, it seems to have missed the pink tones? ColorSuckr (via Dangerous Minds) |
| Judge sentences man to 6 months for yawning in court Posted: 12 Aug 2009 10:29 AM PDT  Illinois Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Clifton Williams to 6 months in jail for yawning in court. Rozak's contempt order stated that Williams "raised his hands while at the same time making a loud yawning sound," which was both disrespectful and disruptive. The Chicago Tribune reports that Rozak, one of 30 judges in the the 12th Judicial Circuit, personally issues over a third of the contempt charges and has thrown more people in jail for ringing cell phones than "any other judge in Will County in the last decade." |
| The surprising links between anger and time perception Posted: 12 Aug 2009 10:10 AM PDT Here's a test: let's say a meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been moved forward two days. What is the new day of the meeting? If you think it's Friday, you imagine time as something you move through. If you think it's Monday, you think of time as something that passes by you. So what? Well, according to the British Psychological Society, "Friday" people have an angrier disposition, than "Monday" people. The researchers also found that "thinking about moving through time can induce anger." The researchers presented students with a computer screen flat on a desk, facing the ceiling. On it were the days of the week, in a vertical line with Saturday at the top, then Friday, Thursday, all the way down to Sunday at the bottom, nearest the participant. Commands were given that either provoked thoughts about moving through time, away from the participant (e.g. a meeting has moved forward two days from Sunday to Wednesday - please highlight the new day on the screen), or thoughts about time moving towards the participant (e.g. a shift down the screen, towards the participant from Wednesday to Sunday). Participants primed to think about their movement through time subsequently rated themselves as feeling angrier than participants in the "time moving towards them" condition."Angry thoughts can change the way we think about time." (Via Derren Brown) |
| Humanthesizer: humans painted with conductive ink to trigger sounds Posted: 12 Aug 2009 10:03 AM PDT Popstar Calvin Harris performed his new single on a "Humanthesizer," a group of dancers painted with body-safe conductive ink used to trigger sounds. Students at the Royal College of Art developed the material, called Bare Conductive. Creative Review has the details on the video. "Calvin Harris and the Humanthesizer" Previously: |
| Depressing 1950s Jell-O commercial Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:53 AM PDT Lisa from Sociological Images came across this grim animated commercial from the 1950s for Jell-O. It shows a haggard woman on a treadmill being assaulted by symbols of her daily grind. The look on her face is one of pure despair. The female narrator seems to be taunting her. The plaintive harmonica tune that's playing is both sad and intentionally insipid. At the woman's blackest moment, she gets covered up by a black scrawl. (I wonder if UPA designed the commercial?) All is cured, of course, once she buys a box of Jello-O instant pudding. |
| Macoto Murayama's computer illustrations of flowers Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:45 AM PDT   Macoto Murayama creates exquisitely cyborganic illustrations of flowers. Inorganic Flora (Thanks, Antinous!) |
| GOOD's video contest around world-changing inventions Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:33 AM PDT |
| Music video: "Black Sand Beach" by The Royalfingers Posted: 12 Aug 2009 09:33 AM PDT My friend Jim Leftwich and I love the music of the Japanese surf band The Royalfingers. Here's a video with scenes from Japanese monster movies set to the music of The Royalfingers' "Black Sand Beach" from their 2002 (and only) album Wild Eleki Deluxe. Here's another video. I have no idea what happened to the band and why they only put out one album. If anyone knows, please share in the comments. |
| Movie industry wants the right to take your house off the net without full judicial review Posted: 12 Aug 2009 06:38 AM PDT The motion-picture industry has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal to allow them to disconnect entire households from the Internet if one member is accused of copyright infringement; they want to be able to disconnect your Internet connection without giving you a chance to defend yourself in front of a judge because that would be "time consuming." Instead, they would like to be lord high executioner for your network connection, with the power to shut you out of the benefits of the network (freedom of speech, assembly and the press; access to school, health, family, work and government) without having to prove it in a real court of law. The motion picture industry has become one of the gravest threats to modern democracy. I've given up on hoping that they'll see the light. Now I just hope they'll go bankrupt before they can bring on a new dark age, all in the name of preserving the future of fifth-rate sequels to Z-rate adaptations of schlocky comic books. FACT director Tony Eaton says that his organization doesn't have a problem with judicial process - as long as it's on their terms.Movie Studios Want Own Version of Justice For 3 Strikes Previously:
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| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:58 AM PDT A reader writes, "The UK Pirate Party is officially registered as a party." The party is registered! Previously:
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| Eclipse Phase: CC-licensed tabletop singularity RPG Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:55 AM PDT Jack sez, Eclipse Phase (Thanks, Jack!) |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:49 AM PDT  Apinnick knitted this Periodic Table of the Elements jumper for her physicist husband. Love in craft form is the best love there is. Periodic Table Sweater (Thanks, Marilyn) Previously:
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| EVE Online creates exotic financial instrument to combat gold-farming Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:44 AM PDT EVE Online is trying to combat gold-farming (working on repetitive in-game tasks to amass wealth and levels that can be sold to wealthy, time-poor players) by tinkering with its monetary supply, creating a special instrument call the PLEX that entitles a player to an extra 30 days' playtime. The idea is that the cash-trading will at least take place among "real" players as opposed to those who join up merely to farm (I suspect "real" is a synonym for "rich" in this case, or at least "first world"). The fight against RMT in EVE Online (via /.) Previously:
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| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:38 AM PDT  The Sputnik Weather Station sports some nice quasi-superfluous brasswork that helps you figure out when the weather is about to change. Barometer Weather Station Sputnik (via Red Ferret) Previously: |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:35 AM PDT Jo Walton's "When we were robots in Egypt" is a poetic look at the Passover seder that free AIs might conduct years after their human liberation. Other nights we use just our names,When we were robots in Egypt (via Making Light) Previously: |
| Accordioning table hidden in a rolling cupboard Posted: 12 Aug 2009 05:33 AM PDT   Nobuhiro Teshima's "Mobile Dining" table is intended for tiny Japanese dwellings; the table folds away to stash in its own rolling cupboard, and can be raised or lowered for use for dining or gaming. Mobile dining (via Crib Candy) |
My husband and I have battled continuously for years about whether scraping the mold off the top of -- well, anything -- makes it OK to eat, or if once a spot of green invades the top of a barely used jar of jam we've got to call it a loss and toss it out. I'm always willing to scrape off the top, cut off the moldy crusts, etc., and carry on with the meal. My husband, not so much. 
Now the party can really start. It's time for us to tell the world that we exist, to recruit members, raise funds and gear up to fight the General Election. The officers and web team have built the framework that the party needs to get going, now it's time for YOU to make things happen. Join the party, tell the media about the party,tell your friends about the party, take part in policy and news debates on the forum, join our Facebook group, donate or set up a regular payment to provide financial support, set up a branch in your constituency, school or workplace, join the specialist workings groups for members with key skills like lawyers and journalists and volunteer to take part in canvassing and campaigning in your constituency at the general election... 
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